The Soul Calibur saga has lasted for many years now, from its humble beginnings on the SEGA Dreamcast to today’s Xbox 360 and PS3. It has been highly regarded franchise ever since the original but has the Soul Calibur series finally run its course?

The story mode is normally the main focus in any game, unless you’re playing Soul Calibur 4. The story mode in this is so short that it hardly seems worth the £40, but considering the number of characters you have to complete story mode with (especially if you’re wanting to get some of the achievements) you can see why they made it so short. One of the other modes is the “Tower of Lost Souls” where you fight your way up a sinister looking tower. On each floor there are hidden chests containing unlockables such as weapons and cloths, which can only be unlocked by performing certain actions. This does add a small twist to the game in trying to find all the secrets but that’s the only real distinction from any of the other modes.

Soul Calibur 2 was released on three separate consoles with exclusive characters depending on the console and it’s back then it was well received and made sense and it’s back in Soul Calibur 4. Although they aren’t exactly the most obvious characters to fit into the series. All the way from Star Wars, Darth Vader (PS3) and Yoda (Xbox 360) are now adding some some lightsaber action to the game. It quickly becomes apparent that these are more of a way of advertising the upcoming Star Wars game “The Force Unleashed”. It really seems like a bad way to get interest in the series again and the fact that they aren’t in the same game is a big let down.

Straight from the 3rd iteration, the Custom fighter mode has returned. This feature of the game is where you can build you own fighter from scratch. This gives you a lot of freedom on how you want to play the game by utilising what characters moves you want for your character and how they look. New armour and weapons for your characters can be unlocked from finding secrets in the Tower of Lost Souls mode. This gives the game a bit more objectivity rather than just fight, fight, fight.

Fortunately this game does have online features so you can play with friends across Xbox Live. This is far more enjoyable than completing the story mode twenty times over. Battling against your friends and showing off your custom fighters makes this a more enjoyable experience and can make you forget the repetitive format. But at least you get to shout your annoyance at your friends rather than the television screen when you loose. Luckily the game also features near perfect online play and in a game where timing is everything this is highly important.

Unfortunately another old feature to return is the completely confusing control system. Marking the buttons as Guard (G), Attack (A) etc… If your new to the game series you will no doubt feel hopeless and lost, and when consulting the moves guide to find that when it say press A it means press X you will have lots of painfully irritating fun trying to memorise this pointless system which mealy confuses and aggravates people. The control help is laid out clearly for you to understand but doesn’t help when you’re in the midst of battle and you have to remember which buttons are what for performing complex combos.

Although Soul Calibur 4 has been widely anticipated, to be quite frank hasn’t lived up to its hype. If you’re a fan of the series and you don’t mind repetitive game play then this game is perfect. But if you’re more of a casual user or are new to the Soul Calibur games you will be left feeling alienated, confused and frustrated. The character creator mode and its classic fighter format is the only thing that’s holding the game together. Unfortunately this game just doesn’t achieve the highs the series reached with Soul Calibur 2 but at least it’s a step in the right direction.